Tag Archive: Pennsylvania

Earlier this week we found out that our Brother Delbert Africa was denied parole by the PA Parole Board and was given a two year hit. One of the reasons they cited for Delbert being denied in their own words he is a risk to the safety of the community. This is unacceptable anyone who has ever met Delbert or has come in contact with him can tell you that Delbert Africa is nowhere near a threat to the safety of the community even the Superintendent of SCI Dallas who along with Delbert’s Counselor recommended Delbert for parole so the Parole Board has to come with something better than this. People in the community who the Parole Board are saying are at risk all wrote letters of support for Delbert’s Parole.

In fact their is a risk to the safety of people in the community but it’s not Delbert Africa or the rest of the Move 9. It’s the police known murderers of our children. The police that murdered Move men, women, and Move Children on May 13th 1985 walk the streets with immunity. The police who murdered Brandon Tate Brown in Philadelphia are still walking the streets with their identities protected. Akai Gurley, Eric Garner, and so many others safety has been put at risk by these foul murderers who walk the street and continue to be a risk to the community as a whole’s safety. It’s obvious a person who has kept down gang and racial violence in prison is far from a threat to the community at large. (more…)

February 20, 2014: Pittsburgh PA — Russell Maroon Shoatz was released from solitary confinement into the general prison population at State Correctional Institution (SCI) Graterford this morning, ending more than 22 consecutive years in solitary confinement. The news was confirmed by Maroon during a legal call with an attorney from the Abolitionist Law Center.

Maroon’s son, Russell Shoatz III, said, “We are very excited that this day has finally come. My father being released from solitary confinement is proof of the power of people organizing against injustice, and the importance of building strong coalitions. I especially want to thank all of those who have supported the collective struggle to end my father’s solitary confinement, including my siblings and members of the Shoatz family, the Human Rights Coalition, Abolitionist Law Center, Scientific Soul Sessions, the entire legal team, UN Special Rapporteur Juan Mendez, the 5 Nobel Peace Laureates, the National Lawyers Guild, Center for Constitutional Rights, along with the dozens of other organizations and thousands of individuals who have participated in this effort.”

The move comes after Maroon, who turned 70-years-old in August 2013, was transferred to three different Pennsylvania prisons in the past nine months. It marks the first time that Shoatz has been in the general prison population in the state of Pennsylvania since 1983, when he was placed in solitary confinement due to his work with the Pennsylvania Association of Lifers to abolish life-without-parole sentences. For a 17-month period between 1989-1991, Maroon was held in the general prison population at the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. (more…)